The skill Appraisal that high ranked Merchant possessed was an extremely
outstanding skill.
I heard that to obtain it a Merchant needed to accumulate a lot of
experiences in judging item, but once the skill was obtained, it seemed the
Merchant would become able to obtain various information from the target
depending on the skill's level.
The skill's effect even applied to status plate. It could even know the effect
of the skill that it saw.
That was why, well, now that I had a skill that gave me no hint at all to
imagine what effect it could possibly have, the fastest way to find out was
to have a trusted Merchant to Appraise it.
For example someone like Rouge-san who immediately guessed right about
the nature of my detached penis. If I asked her, the effect of the mysterious
skill would quickly come to light.
But sadly I was Incubus, and the skill I manifested was Local Wife.
Even if Merchant was tightlipped and they adhered strictly to contract,
Even though Rouge-san was someone who I had formed a contract for
selling penises already!
There was no way I could show her my disgraceful for a lifetime status
plate.
There I recalled about purchasing magic item that had Merchant's skill
sealed in it――the appraisal crystal.
It was a high class item that was made by someone with special Gift.
A particular skill was sealed into an item and anyone would be able to use
it.
Of course there was price for it.
The item creation required a lot of mana, and the item could only be used in
limited number of times. And in the first place the price was so expensive
that it couldn't be obtained casually.
But such item was extremely precious for a case like this time. And in my
case I had the hunch that a lot of absurd skills would keep coming to me in
the future. There would be no disadvantage for me to obtain one of them for
skill inspection.
Against my will, the penis sale was going well and giving me leeway in my
monetary situation...
And so I together with Alicia headed to the merchant guild to ask for
introduction to a shop that sold appraisal crystal but――.
.
"Aa, sorry~. The stock for appraisal crystal is really scarce right now~. Our
guild is managing the production, but you won't be able to get one right
away even if you have the money for it~"
I consulted with Rouge-san along with renewing the contract for the penis
sale, but that was the answer that she gave me.
I opened my mouth in surprise.
"Eh, it's out of stock? It's price is really high, so I got this image that it
won't run out of stock that easily..."
"About that~. You know, from the commotion before this there are a lot of
second generation Armor Ants dead everywhere. Because of that treasure
hunting is booming right now."
"Treasure hunting?"
"Right on~. The shell of Armor Ant is like a living metal, you follow me~.
Perhaps because of that, sooometimes there's a special individual among
them whose shell is made from precious metal. This thing is very popular
among collectors~. The stuffing of it can be sold in a price that will make
your eyeballs pop out."
Rouge-san talked while holding a smoking pipe in her mouth.
According to her that special Armor Ant would be found only once in ten
years. But this time there were a lot of second generation Queen Ants
appearing and each of them gave birth to innumerable number of Armor
Ant each, so the chance of such special specimen appearing was bigger than
usual.
Because of that adventurers everywhere were eager to collect Armor Ant
right now. There were great uproars about it in every region.
Also that special specimen couldn't be discerned just from its outer
appearance. It wouldn't be found without using Appraisal skill.
"And yet right now monsters are gathering around the Armor Ants to
scavenge on hteir corpses, so bringing Merchant with them will have high
risk. And even before that the number of high rank Merchant who is
capable of discerning the special specimen isn't that many. Because of that
the demand for appraisal crystal shot up. The advance orders for it is really
long and all the adventurers are going treasure hunting, so none of them are
left to gather the materials for the appraisal crystal. The production can't
catch up with the demand like that~. I can't give you two the time frame
when one will be available."
"I see..."
Hmm, it looked like I came in a bad timing.
But this was troubling. If it was like this I would have to postpone the
testing of the Local Wife skill.
I was scared of the skill going wild so I wanted to learn about it as quickly
as possible... just as I racked my brains for solution.
Rouge-san lowered her voice and whispered.
"...But well, seeing that you're someone who have done much good for
my business, I can think of just one way so that I can make an arrangement
for an appraisal crystal to be available for you right away~."
"Eh?"
"I have an offer for you~. I told you just now, no one is taking the quest for
procuring the ingredients for appraisal crystal. I want you to take it. If you
can prioritize finishing this quest and bring back a lot of the ingredients, I'll
hand you one appraisal crystal from my stock now as advance payment~."
"Eh, is that alright? You mentioned something about advance order just
now..."
"Well, normally I wouldn't do this kind of thing~. But you know, someone
as strong as you will be able to safely obtain the ingredients, and in the first
place all the adventurers who can bring back the ingredients for appraisal
crystal are getting absorbed with treasure hunting~. I judge that giving the
reward upfront here will actually help us with fulfilling the customer orders
quicker~. Besides..."
Rouge-san blew smoke from her mouth and grinned.
"My Merchant instinct is telling me~. That the right move here is to hand
an appraisal crystal to you~."
Rouge-san declared with some kind of conviction.
Hmmm, I don't really get what she meant by Merchant instinct whatsoever,
but I understood that it would be better for me to accept this deal.
If with this I could obtain appraisal crystal quicker... I only had one
answer.
"Then I shall take you up on your offer. I accept that deal."
"Kekeke, contract established. I'll contact the adventurer guild formally to
designate you for the quest, so go after taking care of the procedure
required. I'm counting on you~"
Like that with Rouge-san's help I was able to obtain appraisal crystal
without problem.
.
"Then I'll try using it."
"...Yes, I look forward to it."
Right after I obtained the appraisal crystal.
Before turning up at the adventurer guild, Alicia and I quickly tried using
the appraisal crystal.
Because there was nothing better than quickly ascertaining the effect of the
newly manifested skill.
"I think the way to use it is to pour mana and look at the object you want to
appraise through the crystal."
I made my status plate displayed the skill Local Wife and then poured mana
into the appraisal crystal just like how Rouge-san explained.
Then――
"Wah, explanatory note really appear beside the skill...! Err, let's
see... Local Wife's effect is..."
.
Local Wife
Teleportation skill. It can summon someone connected to you through
Master-Servant contract to your location from anywhere, and return
them back to their original location with timing of your choosing. It's
also possible for yourself to teleport to the location of the other party
and return to your original location with timing of your choosing.
Mana consumption = Large
.
"......… Ha?"
Did I read it wrong?
The skill that was described there was beyond human limitation no matter
how I thought about it.